2 Rack Packs of 2023-24 Panini Hoops

I had to go to Walmart a couple of days ago, and I went to the card section kinda hoping to find some Topps Holiday Baseball cards. They didn't have those, and they really didn't have much of anything, but I settled on a couple of rack packs of 2023-24 Panini Hoops NBA cards. Busting these packs helped mostly to showcase how out of touch I am with the NBA currently, as most of the names I recognized are guys who've been in the league for many years.

Zion Williamson seems to me like a new guy, but he's been in the NBA since 2019. I don't know if he's still a star, as the headlines I read made it sound like he's spent a lot of time injured and/or overweight. I'm not the guy to ask if that's all true. Kevin Durant has been around a while, but I always forget he was traded to the Suns after the big Nets implosion, which even an outside guy like me could have told you would happen.

I tend to be a fan of the big men on the court, and Nikola Jokić fits that bill, a center averaging nearly a triple-double over the last couple of years. My favorite card from the packs was probably that Shaquille O'Neal base card, featuring one of the most dominant big men of all time, and certainly one of the most marketable.

I pulled several rookies in the packs, which appear to come in two different styles. I'm not sure what the difference between the styles is, but in the end I guess it means plenty of rookies for everyone. I vaguely recognize Scoot Henderson's name, but I couldn't tell you anything about him. The rest of these guys I have no clue about. I was about to complain about the reused photo on the Ausar Thompson cards, but I just realized the photos are slightly different from each other, with his arms at slightly different angles.

Ausar Thompson's similar pose comes back for a third time in the break on this insert. All of the inserts I pulled have a travel theme to them, with Thompson's card featuring a boarding pass and the three Skyview cards showing the players leaping out of clouds outside of an airplane window.

I pulled two Purple parallels and two Teal Explosion parallels. I think the Teal Explosion parallels are exclusive to these rack packs. Draymond Green recently returned from a(nother) suspension for misconduct on the court. It was an indefinite suspension that ended after 16 games, and I'm sure he has learned his lesson and reformed, and will be a model player on the court from here on out. Derrick Rose was on track to be a star for the Bulls, but got derailed by an ACL injury and, to his credit, has hung around the NBA for many years since. Apparently he's with the Grizzlies this year. I recognize Bojan Bogdanovic and Aaron WIggins by name, but I don't know a single other thing about them.

Why did I buy basketball cards if I don't really follow the NBA anymore? I don't know. I guess I was just really jonesing for some new cards, and figured a 2023-24 product might have the latest rookie star, Victor Wembanyama, in it. Part curiosity, part lotto ticket.